I am a professor and endowed professor at the University of Houston where I founded and direct the Sasakawa International Center for Space Architecture and head the graduate program in space architecture. My background deals extensively with research, planning and design of habitats, structures and other support systems for applications in space and extreme environments on Earth. I have recently written a new book titled "Climate of Corruption: Politics and Power Behind the Global Warming Hoax". It can be previewed and ordered at www.climateofcorruption.com. Additional information about my book and views can be found on my YouTube address: http://www.youtube.com/climateofcorruption.

No...Putin's Largest Fish Was Caught In The White House

This picture made available on July 26, 2013 shows Russian President Vladimir Putin holding a huge pike fish, after he caught it in the Tyva region on July 20, 2013 during his vacation. (Image credit: AFP/Getty Images via @daylife)

It’s apparent that Russian President Vladimir Putin was actually being uncharacteristically modest last week photographed posing with a huge 46 pound pike he caught in Siberia. If he had really wished to show off his superior angling ability he could have featured a much larger fish he reeled in here in America.

Putin made his prowess clear the following day, granting American secret information-thief fugitive Edward Snowden a one-year asylum in Russia despite numerous White House requests for his return. Attorney General Eric Holder had even pleaded to his Russian counterpart, Alexander Konovalov that the U.S. wouldn’t seek the death penalty or (gasp) torture if they would please, pretty please, send our wayward son back to his forgiving country.

Given that Russia has predictably accessed all of the classified information in Snowden’s possession, these denials appear to be guided by one primary intent…namely to proudly display the leader of a nemesis superpower as but another grand trophy.

Then there’s the matter of contempt and scorn demonstrated when the Russian military dispatched their flagship guided-missile warship to Cuba. On July 26 their Black Sea Fleet spokesman told Interfax-Avn : “The cruiser Moskva and the large seagoing tanker Bubnov set off for Havana on the fourth week of their long-distance deployment”, adding that it conducted the test launch of a cruise missile along the way.

U.S. officials have declared that the visit to Cuba is part of a push by Moscow to boost relations with communist Cuba in the military, energy and transportation sectors. As a princely perk, Prime Minister Medvedev announced that Moscow is cancelling most of Cuba’s Soviet-era debt, estimated at close to $30 billion.

It is also believed that the Russia-Cuba collaboration agenda includes renewed electronic spying from a large Soviet-era intelligence facility at Lourdes near Havana. Located less than 100 miles off Key West, the facility will be capable of intercepting most communications in the southeastern U.S.

Golly, Can’t We All Just Get Along?

After all, it isn’t as if President Obama hadn’t made every effort to go along with Putin’s demands in order to get along. So where’s all the gratitude and respect? It certainly isn’t evidenced as the world witnesses a scandal-plagued administration apparently surprised that Barry’s recent chummy photo-op exchanges yucking it up with Vlad at the G-8 meetings in Northern Ireland didn’t bring Snowden back.

When Putin was asked earlier during at a news conference in Finland about the Snowden affair, he simply smiled and said, “I myself would prefer not to deal with these issues. It’s like giving a baby pig a haircut: there’s a lot of squealing, but there’s little wool.” He added: “He has not crossed the state’s border, and therefore does not need a visa. And any accusations against Russia [of aiding him] are ravings and rubbish.”

Putin simply explained that Russia has no extradition treaty with the United States and suggested that Moscow would expel Snowden only if he were a criminal. Speaking in the presidential residence with Finnish President Sauli Niinistro beside him, Putin said “Thank God, Mr. Snowden committed no crimes on the territory of the Russian Federation.”

At a news conference in Saudi Arabia, Secretary of State John Kerry said that while it’s true that the U.S. doesn’t have an extradition treaty with Russia, Moscow should comply with common law practices between countries where fugitives are concerned. He said, “I would simply appeal to calm and reasonableness. We would hope that Russia would not side with someone who is a fugitive from justice.” Kerry reminded the Russians that the U.S. has returned seven crime suspects “that they wanted” in the past few years.

So much for that “reasonableness”.

Then there was that time just a couple of days after Christmas when Putin signed into law a ban on adoptions of Russian children by U.S. citizens. That action abrogated a bilateral agreement which went into force in the previous month. The ban was rushed through the Russian parliament after our Congress passed the Magnitsky Act, which prohibits Russian human-rights abusers from visiting or banking in the U.S.

Restart Off to a Startling New START

And where’s all that famous spirit of “restart” cooperation with Russia we were told to expect? Remember when the president was caught during global nuclear summit talks in Seoul on camera with an open mike assuring Russian President Dmitry Medvedev that he would have “more flexibility’ to deal with contentious issues like missile defense after the November election? Dutifully, Medvedev said he would relay the message to then- incoming President Putin.

Well, he did get that flexibility, and as a concession to Russia, has delayed funding for ground-based interceptor (GBI) missile and radar sites the U.S. promised to install in Poland and the Czech Republic for defense against Iranian missile launchers. Remarkably, Obama informed our loyal NATO allies, the Poles, of his decision to renege on our commitment to provide missile defense protection for former Soviet satellite states from a belligerent Russia with a midnight phone call on September 17, 2009, the 70th anniversary of the Soviet invasion. He claimed at the time that he had a better plan.

Then, last March, he scuttled that “better plan” when Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced cancellation of the fourth and last phase of an Eastern Europe missile shield program…which, by the way, would also offer defense to U.S. territory from Iranian missiles. The fourth phase would have included the development of a SM-3IIB interceptor, an advanced version of a missile now carried aboard our Aegis missile defense warships. The three earlier phases are targeted on missiles aimed solely at Europe.

Incidentally, Russia is now completing construction of a large Armavir radar station in the Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad to detect missiles launched from Europe and Iran. That Baltic Sea site is where Moscow originally threatened to deploy advanced Iskander short-range nuclear-capable missiles if the Bush administration went forward with plans to deploy those ground-based interceptors in Poland and Romania, along with missile defense radars in the Czech Republic. You know… the ones that the Obama administration is withholding so that Moscow will politely agree to match with mutual defense cutbacks.

Meanwhile, Armavir, one of four advanced missile defense radars built by Russia in recent years, is being rushed into service by 2020. Each can track up to 500 objects simultaneously. Three stations are already deployed near St. Petersburg and in the Irkutsk region of Siberia. All are protected by highly advanced Russian long-range S-400 air defense and anti-missile interceptors.

But according to the Russian Foreign Ministry, we’re still not doing nearly enough to earn their love. Following Hagel’s pledge to indefinitely postpone phase four of the Eastern Europe shield deployment, they issued a statement criticizing the Pentagon for continuing “to maintain a course toward strengthening its system of global missile defense and raising its effectiveness.”

Meanwhile, Russia is illegally expanding their global missile reach. They recently tested their Yars-M ballistic missile in violation of the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. The INF accord prohibits America and Russia from development, testing or processing ballistic or cruise missiles with ranges of 500 to 5,500 kilometers. Russia may get around this by claiming they’re really longer-range intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) that will replace older weapons.

President Putin said on June 19 that some of Russia’s “neighbors” (a reference to primarily to China) are also developing INF missiles, and suggested that Moscow won’t let the INF Treaty hinder its strategic arms build-up. China isn’t a party to the INF. In addition, Russia also plans to provide anti-ship missiles and ground-to-air missile systems to Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime, presenting a particular threat to Israel.

While eliminating a vital part of the Eastern Europe missile shield, our commander-in-chief has also mothballed or killed several important U.S. defense development programs. This has included a scale-back of the Airborne Laser program to enable enemy missile interceptions during their early launch phase, along with the elimination of the Multiple Kill Vehicle and Kinetic Energy Interceptor which uses small warheads on a single rocket to handle decoys and offer a better chance of success.

Planned replacement of the Ohio-class nuclear ballistic missile submarine has also been delayed, and no decision has yet been made regarding whether the U.S. next-generation strategic bomber force will even be capable of carrying nuclear weapons. In the meantime, Russia is reportedly building a new Borei-class submarine capable of launching 16 long-range nuclear Bulva missiles. They will also deploy a permanent naval unit in the Mediterranean Sea beginning this year, and a new strategic bomber which will be ready by 2020.

Post Your Comment

Post Your Reply

Forbes writers have the ability to call out member comments they find particularly interesting. Called-out comments are highlighted across the Forbes network. You'll be notified if your comment is called out.

Comments

The US already outspends almost the rest of the world combined on defense. But apparently not enough to ensure complete global dominance. The US already spy’s on more people than the rest of the world combined. But apparently that doesn’t ensure a complete intelligence profile for the US intelligence community. Your government and media appear to have translated American into Newspeak. 1984 is alive and well and living in the USA. Kerry actual said that the Egyptian military coup was a movement towards democracy.

Of course the new Kremlin radar is in Kaliningrad on the Baltic not the Black Sea .. on land that used to be part of Germany .. but Larry .. this is an excellant summary of the despicable and astounding acts of Barack Obama .. acts that betray our loyal friends in Eastern Europe and cowardly accede to the wishes of dictators in the Kremlin who are not worthy of the respect of democratic peoples .. the Kremlin murders and imprisons it’s brave citizens who put there lives on the line but the most powerful man in the world betrays them .. I am ashamed .. the man who leads the nation which proclaimed freedom for all mankind in the Declaration of Independence is the friend of the dictators in the Kremlin who are afraid to let the Russian people have free elections and free media .. I am ashamed ..

Can you imagine a more obviously true statement than that of Romney’s about what was the greatest geo-political threat to the US ? When he named the Kremlin dictators Romney was poo pooed as an alarmist .. he was merely stating the obvious .. honestly .. something we apparently well never hear from Barack Obama .. that is what is so mind numbing and despicable .. while he says not a word of support for Navalry and Magnitsky and other heroes who have a hundred times more guts than Mr. Obama could imagine ..

I enjoy your cheeky exasperation, and generally share it – to the extent it has an element of ‘a pox on everyone’s house’. It seems so obvious that one problem with peace is that – if we were to achieve it – no one’s ego or wealth/power accumulation would be served. Given real human potential, and real human need (as well as earth degradation and restoration needs), geopolitical posturings are more than a little “off-task”, IMO.

Lol Armavir radar station isnt at Kaliningrad – it is in Krasnodar region (check “Armavir” on a google maps as a proof). And this station is building instead of Gabala radar statin wich was closed in this year. This article is nothing as a piece of crap.

It’s all ordinary and pragmatic actions are strictly not anti-American actions. Except for Snowden. :) I think Snowden is a fundamental exception. He is a Dissident and he is Human Rights Activist – in world scale, in global scale. He is not protected by personaly Putin – Putin’s opinion not soimportant in this issue. Snowden under protection of… and Russian Laws and International Laws. Putin talked so much about the “Dictatorship of the Laws”. And now he is NOT ABLE to break russian laws – becourse this is his program (or propaganda :)) point, this is his own “basic value”. Obama and other US politicians may violate their own laws – it’s their own deal. Putin can not. Alas poor Yorick…

ps As plus. Features Russia as Russian… of course is that Russia as state has balls. May be more then China or Europe.

Quite funny how country with largest military budget in the world, that is performing regular military ‘interventions’ all around the globe, is depicted as ‘naive’ and ‘olive branch wielding’ state in this article. For neutral observer, however, it would be obvious that Russian relations with the US are determined by actual behavior of the latter, not by empty words and would-be ‘friendship declarations’. After all “Lying. Congressional style” – is the name of a coursebook in one americal videogame. Think of it.